"Our prison population is dropping, yet MDOC’s budget is increasing," Wolfram writes. "We can’t continue this trend and still address the other pressing issues we face with local community needs such as education and public safety."

Wolfram is the William Simon Professor of Economics and Public Policy at Hillsdale College. He served as deputy state treasurer in the first Engler administration and worked as Republican U.S. Rep. Nick Smith's chief of staff in 1995 and 1996. Wolfram also served on the Michigan State Board of Education from 1993 to 1999.

That is a problem that Michigan has struggled with for years. What to do about the high cost of prisons in Michigan?

While this is not a new problem for legislators, it is especially exacerbated by the current financial issues facing us at every level from the state to the counties to every other level of government and, most importantly, our residents.

Gary Wolfram

It is time to tame the prison beast. We cannot continue down this path and still fund the other pressing problems we are facing. It was amazing with all the other issues we face that the Department of Corrections (MDOC) budget is one of the largest in the state. We spend over $2 billion on prisons.

After a great deal of discussion and research on this issue, the Legislature is finally taking steps to try and lessen the burden of prison spending. The most encouraging opportunity is to introduce competition into the process.

There is legislation that will allow private businesses to contract with the MDOC to provide services. The resulting competition that will be introduced into this system will lead to lower costs for taxpayers.

Our prison population is dropping, yet MDOC’s budget is increasing. We can’t continue this trend and still address the other pressing issues we face with local community needs such as education and public safety.

The evidence is clear that our costs are out of line with the rest of the country. Opposing this legislation in the end means less for schools, police and fire protection.

The legislation gives MDOC tools to look at lowering costs in a transparent manner. While certain special interest groups benefit from government-run prisons, Democrats and Republicans are in agreement that if we can find ways to lower prison costs we will all benefit. This is one way to start this important process.

We need to find ways to bring Michigan’s prison costs in line with the rest of the country. For example, we have approximately 44,000 inmates that we incarcerate at a cost of more than $2 billion. Florida with more than 100,000 inmates spends approximately $2.3 billion.

We can’t allow this type of disparity to continue.

Many states have been successful in using competition to lower their prison costs. States across the U.S. have had a successful experience with these partnerships since the late 1980s.

A number of states already have a significant portion (10 to 40 percent) of their prison beds under private management.

Additionally, most existing private facilities are accredited by the American Correctional Association, which sets more than 500 industry leading standards. Private facilities must meet or exceed these standards while at the same time deliver savings to the taxpayers or their contracts will get canceled.

Several independent studies have found that private prisons can generate significant cost savings for taxpayers. However, there are only true cost savings if the services are comparable or better and privatization, if done properly, will result in better services as well.

Companies will compete against other companies and the Department of Corrections. This creates incentives to provide quality service since if a company does not meet standards it will lose the contract. The ability to privatize also creates incentives for the Department of Corrections to provide quality service since it must compete against private firms.

Bottom line, if we want to lower prison costs, we must find better ways to manage the system. If not, we will have significantly lower funding for many more worthwhile expenses such as educating our children. I am much more comfortable having increases in aid to students than increased spending on inmates.